Life coaching is an ongoing relationship that helps Deaf people rise to extraordinary levels of fulfillment in their personal and professional lives. Coaching is centered on helping people discover exactly how they can best achieve greater clarity, energy and balance in their lives. When you are considering making changes in your life or trying to solve a particular problem, coaching can help you identify and prioritize your choices.
Coaches who are counselors ask challenging questions that encourage new and alternative ways of thinking. They share honest, constructive insight and feedback to help you reach your full potential and enhance the quality of your life. Many Deaf people can benefit from life and/or business coaching via American Sign Language (ASL). Someone with ADHD, for example, may find a coach invaluable in keeping organized and staying on track for successful professional development. A person who has many great ideas but just can’t seem to get started in making them happen can get a jumpstart by working with a coach. A couple who wants to enjoy greater relationship intimacy and fulfillment can experience this by learning and practicing highly effective communication skills with guidance from a life coach.
Coaching can be done via in-person, email, or videophone. It is an excellent option for Deaf people living out-of-state who wish to make use of the services offered at Deaf Counseling Center. Life coaching is not appropriate when clients are thinking about hurting themselves or others, when there are serious mental health issues, or when physical or sexual abuse is involved. Psychotherapy should be utilized in such cases.
Coaching with our licensed Deaf therapists who use ASL can be paid by many insurance companies. Coaching with coaches outside Deaf Counseling Center is often not reimbursable.
“We can do anything a coach can do. It is part of our training, and it is part of how we work with clients,” says Sue Pressman, president-elect of the National Employment Counseling Association, president of Pressman Consulting in Arlington, Va., and a longtime member of American Counseling Association. “There are coaches who go through good training programs. I’m sure they are skilled and effective, but that is not to say that counselors aren’t, nor that we don’t offer these services.”
Clients can benefit more if they can obtain both services — coaching and counseling together from well-trained therapists.
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